Improved fishway



Uurriain-- STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALQNZO LIVERMORE, OF QASHLAND, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVE FISHWAY.

Speeification forming part of Lettere Patent No. 5%,159, duted August 14, 1866.

To all whom Jt may concern:

Be it kuown that I, ALOTZO LIVERMORE, of Ashland, in the eounty of Sehuylkill and State of Pennsylvania, beve iuvented a new end Improved Fishway; end I do hereby deelare that the following is a full, clear, end exaot deseription thereof, whieh Wil1 enable others skilled in the art to make end use the saune, referenee being hard to che aeoompanying drawings, forming part of this specificatiou, in whieh- Figure 1 is a.- longitudinal centra.l section of my iuvention. Fig. 2 is a face view of one of the partition-walis.

Similar letters of refereuce indicate 1ike parts.

My inveution consists in oonstruoting a fishway of any desired diameter, divided off iuto compertments to for1n pools or water-chambers, 2m openiug bein g made through eaoh division-wall for the current to pa-ss th'rough, and around these openings there are seoured water-breaks, in theform of lips or tubes, pointin g obliquely end against the eurrent, by whieh oonstruetion end arrangement the velocty of the eurrent is deadened or broken, eausing eouuter-currents opposed to the efflux through the sueoeediug division-wall or 1ip O.

A designates a pipe or tank, of near1y equai size throughout its length. In the present instance it is tabula-r in form end spherical in eross-section; but it may be or" any desired sha.pe or size-say four feet in diameter would be a desirable size. This is divided into compartments by division-walls B, there being as many wztils, a.ud eousequently compartments, es found most praetieable. A pipe of one humdred end sixty-four feet eould, With advautage, be divided so as to form twenty-five compartments. Through these division-walls B there is made a suitable-sized opening, end a projeeting pipe or lip, G, formed around such openings on one side-namely, thai; which faces the eurrent. These lips or tubes point slightly dowuward or to one side when the fishway is in a proper position for use. They serve as a. water-break to check the rapid course, es can be readily understood.

I think it well in praetice to make the opening a little to one side of the center of the partitionwalls, whieh will teud the better te aecomplish the last-named feature.

T0 illustrate, we will suppose the fa1l to be ten feet. The theoretieal veiooity of a. tenfoot fa1l is 25.38 feet per seeoud, which divided by the squure root of tbe number of the divisions-suy twenty-five-of the fishwa.y will give the veloeity of the water theoretieully through eaeh pipe or tube O, which will be 5.076 feet per seeond. The veloeity in the larger compartments wouid be mueh less,the average of which would be, in this case, one-fourth of the velocity of the smaller pipes, or in proportion to the eross-seetion of the tubes or pipes 0.

It is important that the rise should -not be too great at the opeuings, 1est tl1e gravity or weight of the fish in aseending from one chamber to the other be too muoh for its power to overcome it, inciuding the foree of the water in its current, &e. In the case of a te1i-foot rise divided into twenty-five divisions, the rise of each pipe or tube O would be 0.40 of a foot. The power exerted must be sufficient to mise the weight of the fish, together With the pressure of the water and momentum of the same.

The internal openin gs or tubes are projeeted toward the eurrent, but obliquely, so as to a.voi l the direot aotion of the water, which passes upon one side end expends its forse upon the side of the next suceeeding division-wall, thereby destroyiug its momentum end produeing a. minimum eontraotion of the fluid vein. This minimum eoutractiou will probably reduce the theoretieal discbarge to a. little over one-half, or, say, from fifty-three te sixty per eent. This oontraetion will take plaoe from the entranoe of the water at the head. of the diseharge-pipe, and of course will be maiutained throughout.

It is important that the tubes G be of uniform size, es near as may be, in order to maintain a. uniformity of dscharge in the tubes. It is not important that the main pipe be straight, nor is it neoessary that it be inelined, as shown in the drawings.

The pipe may have bends and may be level, should it be more conveuient to so construet it aiways, however, giving, the fish ztbundttnt room to ehange their eourse.

I wi11 bere rema-rk that the same priuciple of construetion may be upplied to any fluid or other eonduits where great yeloeities are to be redueed. This wou1d applyto pipes having the fluid to be disoherged et a great elevation,

w tqh division -walls bult transversely to its length, aut]. openings through said divisionwalls, and tubes or lips projecting therefrom' in an oblique direction and. against the current, by wh ich construction che velocity of the current can be decreased as may be desired.

. ALONZO LIVERMORE.

Witnesses:

WM. O. FISHER, N. W. WALLER. 

